MANCHESTER, England -- Reeling from arguably the most humiliating loss in the clubs illustrious history, the prospect of Manchester United being European champions by 2017 seems far-fetched. Michael Jordan Jersey North Carolina . Yet that is the target new manager Louis van Gaal has set the team as part of an ambitious three-year plan. "I hope we are in the top four this season -- it suits a club like Man United," Van Gaal said Friday, "and then maybe the next step is to be (English) champions and then the next step is to be the winners of the Champions League." Those comments could invite ridicule considering how United performed last season under David Moyes and started this season under Van Gaal. After earning just one point from Premier League matches against Swansea and Sunderland, United lost 4-0 to third-tier MK Dons in the second round of the League Cup on Tuesday. Suddenly, the World Cup in Brazil -- where Van Gaal led the Netherlands to the semifinals last month -- seems a dim and distant memory. But Van Gaal is used to making bad starts at club level. Van Gaals Barcelona was 10th after 14 games of the 1998-99 season but still won the league. In 2009, Bayern Munich was seventh after 13 matches under the Dutchman but ended the season as champions. "When I started with the Dutch national team (in 2012), no one believed we could qualify (for the World Cup)," Van Gaal added. "After that, they said we wouldnt have any chance to get through the group stage, and after that (they said) well lose against every opponent." Given Uniteds start to the season and the squad depth of Premier League rivals Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, finishing in the top four would be some achievement. A first win of the campaign would do wonders for confidence and United is hoping that comes Saturday at Burnley, where Argentina midfielder Angel Di Maria is in contention to make his debut after sealing his move from Real Madrid for 59.7 million pounds ($99 million). "I think he is ready to play," said Van Gaal, who is without 10 players because of injury. It wont be Van Gaals first trip to Turf Moor. In 1992, he was there as coach of Ajax for a friendly that the Dutch club -- then UEFA Cup champion -- won 1-0 in front of a crowd of 10,746. "Yes, I was there!" Van Gaal said after a moments pause. "We won. I took over there in 1991, we won the UEFA Cup in the first season, in the second year we won the (Dutch) cup, and after the league. "It was a step in the process." Youth Michael Jordan Jersey .C. -- The Charlotte Bobcats said head coach Steve Clifford underwent a successful procedure Friday to have two stents placed in his heart. Deshaun Watson Jersey . -- Blake Griffin scored 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds, DeAndre Jordan had 14 points and 22 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers outlasted the Golden State Warriors 98-96 on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series.Entering this season, the Winnipeg Jets talked frequently about improving from within. This meant increasing their win and point total - and subsequent playoff chances - by getting more out of the players already within the organization. The philosophy was two-fold: promotion of some players from their American Hockey League affiliate in St. Johns to take roster spots; and secondly, receive a production boost from the returning core group of players already established on the team. Thus far, theyve done both as centre Adam Lowry and defenceman Ben Chiarot have graduated from the AHL to become full-time players in the National Hockey League, while a veteran like Chris Thorburn has provided more scoring this season than he had the last two years combined. As a result, this combination of growing from within is highly evident on the clubs third forward line. Since being assembled five games ago, the trio of Lowry and Thorburn along with another veteran, Evander Kane, has provided the team with energy and offensive production. Even in the midst of a current three-game losing skid, the Lowry line has been Winnipegs best, frequently forechecking with zeal and spending the majority of their minutes inside the oppositions zone. In fact, the three have become the embodiment of what kind of team and style head coach Paul Maurice wants the Jets to become in perpetuity. That identity has certainly been on display for most of the clubs 51 games this season. We play to our strengths, said Thorburn, who signed a three-year extension with the club last off-season. And our strength is size and speed. If were going, its intimidating and hard to play against. An injury to star forward Mathieu Perreault before the all-star break forced Maurice to juggle his lines. One of the moves was to elevate Thorburn to the third line while Kane moved up to fill Perreaults spot on the left side beside Mark Scheifele on the second line. And even when Perreault returned after missing two games, Thorburn stayed put with Lowry and Kane slipped back to join them to form an impressive unit. I thought (Chris) game had started to come even prior to (Perreaults) injury, said Maurice. For Thorburn, its been about opportunity. And now at 31-years-old and a veteran of nearly 600 NHL games, hes seized it. The correlation between playing time and offensive production is relevant. Since the move into the Top 9, his minutes have doublled in the last five games from under six to 13 per game and the points have followed. Nolan Ryan Jersey. Over that span, the rugged forward has three goals and four points in the last handful of games, which includes scoring the game-winning goal in a recent victory over the Blackhawks in Chicago. Maurice credits Thorburn and recently injured forward Matt Halischuk with the ability to be interchangeable parts for the team. That includes sliding up and down from the fourth line to the third or being able to play left or right wing effectively. Either way, Thorburn understands the value he can provide in being that type of player for the team, especially with the way the game is changing and players with one dimension to their game finding less of a place on NHL rosters. Im just trying to help the team, he said. We have some big bodies and durable bodies. Its been a wolfpack mentality. Weve done a good job of sticking together and being difficult for other teams to play against. And while many thought the growing from within mantra by the Jets last summer was a recipe for mixed results at best, the returns to date have been positive. At this point, the club employs what is considered three scoring lines and one checking line and theyve managed that without spending a fortune in free agency and firmly have become a playoff contender. Stay tuned! NOTES: As a franchise, the Jets have lost 14 straight games in Pittsburgh... Centre Jim Slater is 41 games away from tying Ilya Kovalchuk for the most games played in franchise history (594)... Like the stat or not, the Jets boast their top 13 scorers as plus or even players in the plus/minus category... The quickest game involving the Jets this season is a two hour, 11-minute victory in Buffalo on November 26. The longest game this season was a road shootout loss to Anaheim that took two hours and 57 minutes... Here are your Top 3 minutes leaders on the Jets this season: Toby Enstrom (24:05), Jacob Trouba (23:24) and Dustin Byfuglien (23:05)... Last week, the Jets announced they will add 278 premium seats to the MTS Centre for next season, bringing the total capacity for hockey at the venue to 15,294. That might not seem like a major increase, but the extra seats should generate $3-5 million (all figures U.S.) in additional revenue for the club – something theyll need with the salary cap in the NHL expected to rise next season to over $70 million. ' ' '
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